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OMD @ Union Transfer | Philadelphia, PA (7/12/2013)

New wave/synth-pop legends Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark performed at Union Transfer in Philly on Friday, 7/12 (Diamond Rings was the opener). The current tour is in support of English Electric, their 12th studio LP (released in April 2013); however, they had to cut the tour short and have now canceled all of their remaining 2013 tour dates due to drummer Malcolm Holmes recently suffering from heat exhaustion (more details here).

The lead track from English Electric is “Metroland” (listen below), which sees them returning to their undoubtedly-OMD-sounding synth-pop roots. While best known for the extremely poppy “If You Leave” (which was featured in John Hughes’ 1986 teen movie Pretty in Pink), OMD’s first 3 albums (i.e., their 1980 self-titled debut, Organisation, and Architecture & Morality) are among the best and most underrated new wave albums of all time. I suppose I’m not completely unbiased, though, as side A of their 1988 compilation album The Best of OMD was the soundtrack of my childhood (I owned it on cassette). FYI, you can listen to all of their releases (including B-sides and live albums) on Spotify.

Their set at Union Transfer was mostly split between English Electric and their biggest singles (see setlist below). For their encore, they ended with “Electricity” – the song that started it all for them 30+ years ago (watch the original music video from 1980 below); however, even after all of these years, Andy McCluskey can still bust a move ’80s-style while slappin’ da bass. Not too shabby for a bunch of middle aged guys.